Local news blogging: States struggle to administer medical pot reg.

A week past since the Justice Department announced it will no longer prosecute users of medical marijuana in state’s where it’s legal. The announcement has caught states off-guard and sent some reeling for a way to regulate medical marijuana without help from the feds.

“Health and law enforcement officials around the nation are scrambling to figure out how to regulate medical marijuana now that the federal government has decided it will no longer prosecute legal users or providers.

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“For years, since the first medical marijuana laws were passed in the mid-1990s, many local and state governments could be confident, if not complacent, knowing that marijuana would be kept in check because it remained illegal under federal law, and that hard-nosed federal prosecutors were not about to forget it.

“But with the Justice Department’s announcement last week that it would not prosecute people who use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal, local and state officials say they will now have to take on the job themselves.”

The article also says that some states, like California and Colorado, face significant confusion with imposed bans on distribution that contradict state legalization laws, while others states, like New York and New Jersey, are expected to seriously pursue legal medical marijuana referendums.

Blogs below are taken from several states profoundly affected by the Obama administrations apathetic pot policies. Unfortunately, not all states struggling with the new policy are represented due to an infrequent amount of blogs.

“State Senator Chris Romer fears the medical marijuana industry is growing too quickly and might be abused at a time when health officials are receiving an average of 600 requests daily for medical-marijuana cards, writes The Denver Post.”

“Whether you support pot for medicinal (or recreational) use, there’s really not a dispute that the legal gray area for cities is a nightmare. Cities are fighting expensive legal battles to get control of dispensary proliferation, which in an unregulated environment are rife for public safety issues.”

“If we’re intent on and comfortable with the current charade of storefront medical marijuana dispensaries doing the wink-wink/nod-nod as they supply pot to anybody savvy enough to get a dubious prescription from an equally dubious MD (and arrive bearing cash), then by all means we should proceed with our current situation. By that I mean a medical marijuana shop on every corner of L.A., a target for armed robbers and a magnet for … people who like pot.”